DRAWING LIFE by fred hatt

2014/06/16

Maidman’s Celebration

Cover of Poets/Artists, issue # 56, June 2014, curated by Daniel Maidman. Watercolor by Melissa Carroll

Poets/Artists is a limited edition and print-on-demand magazine published since 2008. On their Facebook page they describe themselves thus: “We publish figurative artists and jazzy poets….” That’s all – the ellipses don’t indicate any omission in their mission statement. Many of their issues are curated by invited artists.

The most recent issue, “Celebration“, was put together by painter and writer Daniel Maidman, whose own blog and whose writings mostly about other artists in the Arts section of the Huffington Post, are essential reading for anyone interested in art from a mostly figurative perspective. I am extremely happy to have my work included within Maidman’s expansive vision of the contemporary figurative art scene. Daniel Maidman looks at art with the same passion he brings to making it, and he will surely introduce you to brilliant artists you’ve never encountered.

Maidman gives each artist two facing pages and arranges them in alphabetical order so each one gets a sort of private space free of the biases of sequencing and juxtaposition. In most cases, he knew the artists’ work well enough that he requested particular works he found striking. It’s a great way to assert the curator’s taste while respecting the individual artists’ personal visions.

You can view the entire issue here – click the “view fullscreen” icon on the lower right and then the arrows to page through. Better yet, rescue these images from the endless image ocean of the web: Click “buy” and get a print copy you can own forever.

2014/01/08

Gallery Opening on the Web

A sample from Fred Hatt's new photo/video website

A sample from Fred Hatt’s new photo/video website

For the last few weeks I’ve been working on a major redesign of my website highlighting the photography and video work I do for clients, many of whom are artists and performers. Today it went online: Fred Hatt Photo/Video. Please check it out and let me know your thoughts.

I worked with the great graphic designer Michael LaBash, who also designed my art portfolio site. I had some ideas about how I wanted it to look – dark colors, horizontal scrolling photo galleries – and he figured out how to make it all work and look beautiful. There are some images that were on the old version of the site, but there’s also a lot of new material and a gorgeous new look.

There are twelve different photography galleries and five galleries of video pieces, covering the work I do for visual artists, performing artists, and my landscape and urban photography. Many of the photos link to the websites of the client or subject.

If I’ve shot you or your art in recent years and you don’t see it here, I apologize. It was really hard to sift through all that work and find a good balance of samples to convey the range and quality of what I offer. But the process of choosing work made me feel very fortunate to have worked with so many amazing creative people. I’m not ambitious enough as a photographer and videographer to seek out big celebrities and supermodels and high-profile assignments – I just want to work with those that inspire me, help them show the world what they can do, and make a little money to be able to pay my bills and keep doing my own artwork without compromise. But there’s some beautiful stuff here!

2013/12/20

Invitation to an Exhibition

solstice-gradientThe winter solstice is the longest night of the year. Now, in the Northern hemisphere, the days will start to get longer. To all my readers, a Blessed Solstice, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

My dear friend Claudia, the art model and Museworthy blogger, has posted the 2013 Museworthy Art Show. Claudia invited her readers to submit artwork based on their choice among four of my photographs of her. Click the link and check it out. I’m a big part of this wonderful and diverse gathering of artwork, since I took the source photos and also submitted a drawing for the show. I think this show is a brilliant idea. A blog brings together a great diversity of people around some shared interests, people scattered across the globe, people with different sensibilities and different abilities. Normally it’s all sort of vague, anonymous lurkers and commenters you know little about. Claudia’s show creatively manifests the community she’s growing.

2013/11/16

Sketches to a Muse

Claudia posted some of my quick sketches of her on her blog, Museworthy. Check ’em out!

2012/09/24

Museworthy’s Fifth

MuseworthyClaudia’s blog about artists and models of history and her own life as an art model, has been going for five years today.  It was Museworthy that inspired me to start blogging, and Claudia was my mentor, showing me how to use the WordPress software and how to get started.  The quality and variety of what she shares there, and her consistency and perserverance in publishing (often two to three posts a week!) remain an inspiration to my own writing and posting, as much as Claudia as model has been an inspiration for me and many other artists.  It’s become a tradition for Claudia’s blogaversary posts to include a photo of her taken by me, so follow the link to check out this year’s effort.

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